Pages

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Ricotta Gnocchi - Daring Cooks' Challenge

The Daring Kitchen is now home to the Daring Cooks as well as the Daring Bakers and today is reveal date for the first of what I hope will be many Daring Cooks' challenges. For its maiden voyage the group was asked to prepare ricotta gnocchi using the recipe from the Zuni Cafe Cookbook. Full instructions and the recipe can be found at The Daring Kitchen website. I followed the recipe as it was written but because there are just two people at our table I made half a batch of the gnocchi. The recipe is really simple, but there are time constraints that you should be aware of. The ricotta must be drained and that can take up to 24 hours. Assembly will be easier if you use fresh ricotta, but that, too, needs some time to drip. The gnocchi will disintegrate as they poach if there's too much moisture in the cheese. I kept the dumplings chilled before poaching and I didn't fiddle with them as they cooked so I had no problems. I chose to brown the suggested butter sauce. I also added 2 tablespoons of chopped chives. It was a mistake that made the sauce too rich for the simplicity of the dumplings. It didn't spoil them but these would have been so much better with a light lemon sauce and less butter. The gnocchi are good, but this is treadmill food and in the great scheme of things calories trump taste if you are trying to eat in a more healthy fashion. I won't be making them again. We all approach food from different perspectives so I'm sure my choices differ from yours. If you are looking for a challenge that will produce a really lovely meal I urge you to try these. It's a nice recipe. Just not for me.

They look very good....but if it's too much of a challenge for YOU, then I think I'll pass. But anything with cheese....oh boy, I salivate. I guess you could call me cheesy. You are what you eat afterall. LOL

you're right - i felt so guilty eating these that i was wondering if it was worth it. i'll definitely make it again - for a pot luck or for dinner for friends and family, but not sure i can get myself to eat more than one piece next time.

Site Meter

Privacy Policy

This blog does not share personal information with third-parties nor does it store information about your visit for use other than to analyze content performance through the use of cookies, which you can turn off at anytime by modifying your Internet browser's settings. Third party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on a a users prior visits to this website. Google's use of the DoubleClick cookie enables it and its partners to serve ads. This blog is not responsible for the republishing of the content found here on other Web sites or media without the owners permission. This privacy policy is subject to change without notice